Drinking fruit tea between meals could be damaging your teeth

They can make a refreshing alternative to your usual cup of builders' tea or coffee, but new research has found that popular drinks like fruit teas and flavoured waters could be bad for your teeth.

The team at King's College London found that drinking the likes of fruit squashes, cordials, fruit teas, diet drinks, sugared drinks and flavoured water between meals and savouring them for too long increased the risk of tooth erosion from acid.

On top of this, snacking between meals was also found to have an effect on oral hygiene. Dr Saoirse O'Toole, the lead study author from King's College Dental Institute, said:

"If you drink things for long periods of time, greater than five minutes, or if you play with things in your mouth or if you nibble on fruit over a few minutes rather than eating them as a whole fruit - these are things that can really damage your teeth."

The study

The research, published in the British Dental Journal, looked at the diets of 300 people - all of whom were suffering with severe erosive tooth wear. It was discovered that people who often consumed the above acidic drinks twice a day between meals were over 11 times more likely to have dental problems.However, this figure was halved when the drinks were taken with meals. Speaking to The BBC, Russ Ladwa, who chairs the British Dental Association's health and science committee, explained:

"Having [acidic drinks] with a meal helps to minimise the damage because chewing meal food increases the production of saliva, which is alkaline and acts a buffer to dilute acidic foods and drinks. We would promote the chilling of drinks, consuming them in one go - don't sip over long periods - and limiting soft drinks to meal times."

Adding to this, Dr O'Toole said:

"If you're going to have an apple as a snack at lunchtime, then try not to have anything acidic later on in the evening. If you are going to have a glass of wine in the evening, then don't have your fruit tea in the morning. Just balance things in your diet."

Tooth erosion is a progressive loss of the hard substance that makes up a tooth that can lead to tooth loss. Recent research suggests it is becoming more and more common among children in the UK, and it is also a major cause of tooth damage among older people.

Using a straw when drinking acidic drinks can help limit damage, but Mr Ladwa recommends swapping out fruit teas and other damaging drinks for water or milk.